This week, I traveled to Columbus, OH for the OFA Short Course. One of the highlights of this trip was meeting Laurie Scullin, who I had heard speak in 2010 at the ANLA Management Clinic.
His talk was titled “Big Box Marketing for Independent Garden Centers,” and it really surprised me. For the first time, I saw that the social media tools of Facebook, blogs and YouTube were not a waste of time but were in fact the tools of communication that we needed to tell our industry’s story to the world.
I was inspired and started OpenHort as soon as I returned home from the Clinic. During his talk, Scullin described how he and and his colleague Frank Zaunscherb had brainstormed a “grassroots national marketing campaign” concept, which is described here in this Greenhouse Grower article (which I read just this past Spring for the first time).
When I saw Laurie standing in the JiffyPot booth, I was excited to meet him, and I was blown away that he knew about OpenHort, that he loved what we’re doing and wanted to see more.
It is so helpful to hear encouragement from others, especially those I respect and look up to. It really motivates me to get back to work!
Thanks, Laurie!
~Art